Help stop clicking noise

[DaisyDust]

I'm in my 3rd week BFing & my god is it painful. First my little boy had thrush & then mastitis.

I had a breastfeeding consultant come round on day 4 & she said the latching on was completely fine. I don't know if all these problems have caused me & my son to work at this differently but he makes this clicking noise with his throat & loses suction on the nipple. That then loses the whole latch & he just sucks it all back in...but not before my nipple practically slips out. Feels like he clamps down real hard & bends my nipple. It's soooo painful & they won't heal.

He's been doing this for at least a week & it's definately the main cause of our now bad latch. I expressed this evening & gave him a bottle & he still made the clicking sound.

Any ideas why he could be doing this & what I can do to stop it?

Thank you in advance xx

 

[Ruth 1980]

I could've written this post myself! It turns out she had a posterior tongue tie (all those things you have described can be a sign of tongue tie), which wasn't picked up by anyone who saw me feed her/or did checks on her! Until we saw a good lactation consultant who diagnosed it.
The plastic surgeon who did her release last week has a LC working with her and when I fed dd after the snip she was still clicking (had three months to form the habit!) so she gave me a tip, gently push behind the corner of the jaw (pushing forward) as they feed and it stops the clicking!
Do get checked out by someone who is experienced with tongue ties though! Because it would be better to know for sure than suffer x

 

[DaisyDust]

Could you see your LO tongue tie...ive been looking?

Can you explain how to stop it again, I'm not sure i understand? Do you mean lean when I feed or press the outside of her jaw?

Did it work for you?

Thank you so much for your help x

 

[armywife11]

My daughter had lip tie and did that, I also had an oversupply and forceful let down. I played around with nursing positions and would latch and relatch her often. I also used a nipple shield at the start because it was so painful. If you can see a LC I would just for the extra help. One thing that really helped us was laying down to nurse. I didn't have to do it all the time but in those early days it really worked.

We didn't clip my daughters lip tie because it went undiagnosed for months. It wasn't until she got her front teeth in that we noticed it. I was afraid to clip it then and ruin our finally working plan.

 

[DaisyDust]

My daughter had lip tie and did that, I also had an oversupply and forceful let down. I played around with nursing positions and would latch and relatch her often. I also used a nipple shield at the start because it was so painful. If you can see a LC I would just for the extra help. One thing that really helped us was laying down to nurse. I didn't have to do it all the time but in those early days it really worked.

We didn't clip my daughters lip tie because it went undiagnosed for months. It wasn't until she got her front teeth in that we noticed it. I was afraid to clip it then and ruin our finally working plan.

Did you have a look for it before she was diagnosed then?
I've looked & can't see anything...is there a way you can tell?

 

[Sarah lo]

I was going to say tongue tie too. My LO has a posterior tongue tie and a high arched palate. A normal tongue tie is easy to spot because when they cry their tongue goes heart shaped. The posterior one is harder to spot and that's why they often go undiagnosed.

If they have posterior tongue tie they can't stick their tongue right out. If you stick your tongue out at him, his natural reaction should be to stick his tongue out at you in response. A tongue tied baby can't do this or in my son's case can't stick his tongue out further than his bottom lip.

This is what causes the problem, during normal feeding baby should stick their tongue out and use it to push the nipple up to the roof of their mouth. The tongue tied baby can't stick their tongue out so they use their bottom gums instead - OUCH! The clicking noise happens because they can't maintain a good latch for very long before they start to get tired, and they start to slip off.

Other symptoms to look out for are:

Frequent feeding - because they tire themselves out during feeding and don't get a full feed before falling asleep

Lots of painful gas - because the latch is poor they don't get the right mix of foremilk and hindmilk, and tend to end up with too much of the high lactose foremilk which then ferments in their tummies causing painful wind. This also contributes to the frequent feeding because the foremilk doesn't fill them up as well as the fatty hindmilk, and also, sore tummy = more comfort sucking.

Explosive poos- for the same reason as above.

We've finally got an appointment to get wesley's snipped on Saturday. One thing that has helped us in the meantime has been pointing my nipple upwards towards the roof of his mouth as he latches, as this helps my nipple reach the top of his palate. He doesn't "click" when I do this.

 

[DaisyDust]

Thank you...this is so helpful.

I have a health visitor coming at 11.30 so in will ask her then. I also have some info & drop in centres for tongue tie which I'd actually ruled out because I couldn't see a tie. So pleased I posted this.

Good luck Sarah with your LOs un-tie.

 

[DaisyDust]

I've got all those symptoms & I can't get him to stick his tongue out. I think he's trying but it's not even getting to his lip. He certainly seems to chomp with his gums to get milk. Supply isn't a problem & he's put on weight so he's working around the problem. He does feed a lot though.

 

[Sarah lo]

I've got all those symptoms & I can't get him to stick his tongue out. I think he's trying but it's not even getting to his lip. He certainly seems to chomp with his gums to get milk. Supply isn't a problem & he's put on weight so he's working around the problem. He does feed a lot though.

I'd say the posterior tongue tie is your best bet then. They do put weight on, often they will put on more weight than the average baby because the high lactose milk causes them to gain more due to its high sugar content. And the frequent feeding ensures your supply is good

 

[Amcolecchi]

My son also makes this noise but not all the time. I did have an oversupply with a forceful letdown too as the LC saw me and diagnosed me. I nurse him in position where he is more on top and I lay back rather than him laying down underneath the breast. He also used to choke and cough at the boob but that was due to the oversupply. He is 11 weeks now and his clicking isn't as terrible but he does make huge gulping noises, could this also be tongue tie or just my milk is still coming down too fast for him?

 

[noon_child]

I know all the LC's I saw asked about a clicking noise (my LO didn't make one) so it shouldn't be ignored. See a proper LC if you can.

 

[armywife11]

Did you have a look for it before she was diagnosed then?
I've looked & can't see anything...is there a way you can tell?

I glanced over posts so I sounds like you getting a little more info. I have lip and tongue tie so I knew what I was looking for My only issue is her lip tie was in a weird spot and depending on where her teeth came through when they came in would affect the extent. I brought it up to her ped. who just brushed it off and said it sounded like an oversupply issue. I know he was wrong now because when my supply was finally under control we still had issues. I figured out ways to latch her so it didn't hurt though. The only time it got really bad was when she got in her front teeth. Since she couldn't make a deep latch she could bite easier and her teeth could sink into my skin if she got lazy.

I nursed her to 19 months when she self weaned. I won't lie some days I had painful sessions because she was stubborn and wouldn't latch like I needed her to but I was determined to get to my goal which was her self weaning. I should have also fought more at the start when I had the early issues. I was just fed up with being brushed off that I sought help from the internet and here. This time around I found a real LC who could provide me help if needed.


*Lip and tongue tie runs in my family and everyone was able to successfully breastfeed with it.

 

[Lady_Bee]

It could also be that you have a fast letdown and your baby is struggling to cope with the flow. When Benjamin was a newborn he would click whenever the milk let down and he would gulp and gasp and squirm and get quite stressed and I found that I could help him out a lot by reclining a little so that he was working against gravity. Sometimes I had to lie almost on my back! He would feed much more calmly then and no clicking. I have read that when faced with a faster flow than they can cope with, some babies will clamp down on the nipple and it can be painful. You get the same problems with very frequent feeding, gassiness, explosive poops (sometimes green or frothy if there is also an oversupply of breast milk).

Have him checked for a tongue tie anyway though. Tongue ties are pretty common but not always problematic. My boys both have them. My first was unable to breastfeed well, but my second is a champ at it. So best to have it assessed by someone who really knows their stuff.

 

[Ruth 1980]

Could you see your LO tongue tie...ive been looking?

Can you explain how to stop it again, I'm not sure i understand? Do you mean lean when I feed or press the outside of her jaw?

Did it work for you?

Thank you so much for your help x

Hi so sorry for the delay replying!
No, I couldn't see her tongue tie. Well I could see the tip of her tongue was pulled in at the middle, but she wouldn't let me look under her tongue.
The technique I was shown was to use your thumb against the square corner of their jaw (under the earlobe) and gently push the jaw forwards as they're feeding. This definitely helps limit clicking with my dd, but then again she has had the TT snipped now so that's surely helping too.
I had read beforehand that a type 4 TT needs to be felt not necessarily seen and there's a very specific way of feeling for it (which I don't know how to do!).
Good luck getting sorted x

 

[Amcolecchi]

I know I had an oversupply and forceful letdown and even now he doesn't click all the time so I am not sure what it is? I think I am going to see another LC just in case..is there a way to check his tongue myself? I have never heard of tongue tie before, no one in my family or my husband's has it so I am so lost!

 

[armywife11]

Here are some photos... Lip Tiehttps://www.mommypotamus.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/how-to-diagnose-tongue-and-lip-ties-2.jpg

Tongue Tie https://www.mommypotamus.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/how-to-diagnose-tongue-and-lip-ties-3.png

Photos from https://www.mommypotamus.com/a-step-by-step-guide-to-diagnosing-tonguelip-ties/

 

[armywife11]

You would need a doctor to confirm it.. We thought my daughters lip tie was a class IV but it is actually a III it has also stretched as she's gotten teeth so its not as tight as it was. Since we figured out how to nurse with it and successfully everyone said it would be best to leave it be. Which is what we also felt.

My lip tie is a class II and my tongue tie is a class IV but it doesn't look like the image. It looks like the class III but its farther back.